Sewage Popcorn and Buttery Dirt (Finally in Tanzania)

Dala Dala Ride to Campus

Climbing up 8 flights of stairs with two suitcases is NOT my idea of fun

So, I've finally reached Tanzania! The last flight was great and I seriously LOVE Swiss Air.  Not only did we get pizza, icecream, a chicken dish, and swiss chocolate, but we also got warm towels handed to us to wash our hands with.  It was fabulous.  We had a stopover in Kenya and it was my first real look at Africa.  Everything was so brown! We learned that Kenya and Somalia are experiencing one of their worst droughts in 50 years.  Only one more hour and we reached Tanzania! It was dark out so I didn't get to see much, but we arrived safely out of the airport and realized that Professor Godde was nowhere to be found. But alas, we eventually found him and made our way up to the cafeteria at the airport to wait for the other flight to get in.  We had our first Tanzanian food: bitter lemon soda and samosas.  All 12 of us then piled into the bus with all of our luggage (it was a tight squeeze) and made our way to the dorms.  The reason for the title on this post is that our first smells of Tanzania were described as firework-like, popcorn sewage, and buttery dirt.  We were all quite delirious after our flights and had a good laugh at this.   The dorms are very similar to those that I stayed in during my internship in Mexico.  Very simple towers with a central stairs and washroom on each floor.  Let me just say that never again will I bring a rolling suitcase with me to Africa.  It was fabulous in the airport, but absolutely terrible trying to get it up 7 flights of stairs.  We were all huffing and puffing by the end of it!  Our rooms are suprisingly nice, we each have a twin bed with mosquito net, a closet, a desk, a chair, and a bucket for laundry.  In addition, we also have a patio.  We unpacked and went to bed (by that time it was one o'clock in the morning and I was so excited that I was afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep).  It was really warm and humid during the night and I only slept with a sheet on. 
We woke up the next morning at 8:30 in time for breakfast at 9:30 at the cafeteria.  We ate chapati (flatbread), andazi (fried dough), omelettes, and fruit (watermelon, papaya, banana, oranges, and strangely enough, cucumber).  There was also juice, which we think was made of kiwi and plantain.  We had a quick little tour around campus and got to see Professor Godde's house and then went to the security orientation at the police station.  We saw many monkeys and an egret on our way! We also received our schedules for classes and realized that we start Swahili on Monday and Research Methods on Friday.  We are so excited to learn swahili! One interesting thing about the professor's house, is that they have 2 guards that watch it 24/7.  How crazy is that! Although I don't feel too unsafe here, so far, no one has done anything remotely pushy or offensive.  We headed back to the dorms to relax for the afternoon and many of the jet lagged took a nap.  Later, we went to dinner at the cafeteria and it was quite an adventure.  We didn't know what many of the words on the menu board were, so we guessed and just ordered blindly.  We ended up with rice and beef, rice and okra, or rice and sardines.  I tried the sardines and almost gagged.  I'm not so sure I could have choked that plate down.  We found several stones in our rice and that was a little bit surprising.  I also had some watermelon to wash it all down. 
Now we are hanging out in one of the dorm rooms.  Thankfully I found someone's outlet that worked and was able to charge my dead computer.  I'm not sure if the internet here is good enough for skype, but we are still figuring things out.  Tomorrow, we are hoping to go to the market in town after breakfast at Mr. Godde's house.  The store here on campus has everything anyone could ever want, including towels, school supplies, flip flops, and shampoo.  So far, I don't think I have forgotten anything, but I do wish I had a converter that worked!  I'll hopefully be able to post pictures when the connection is better.  Talk to you soon!
Erin